Were Boise police justified in fatal North End shooting? Oversight office weighs in
In a report released Tuesday, Boise’s police oversight office said six officers acted appropriately in the fatal shooting of a man in the North End in July 2023.
The report found that officers were justified in their use of lethal force against Macey Juker — who was firing a rifle at police and nearby houses — and did not recommend additional training.
“Officers used restraint, gave commands, and attempted to resolve the matter without using force,” according to the report, published by the Office of Police Accountability’s director, Nicole McKay. “When faced with an imminent deadly threat, officers responded with disciplined, accurate gunfire in a tense and rapidly evolving situation.”
Juker, 28, called 911 late in the evening from the North End, telling dispatchers that he had an assault rifle, that there were people outside his house “trying to get in and kill me” and that “radiation is melting my brain,” according to the report.
Officers who responded to the call, near the 700 block of North 20th Street, initially tried to communicate with Juker by phone from a short distance away, in line with the department’s de-escalation policies. On that call, Juker showed signs of a mental health crisis and told officers that he had been consuming alcohol, according to the report. He stopped responding to officers on the call and then began firing “several rounds” while on foot in the neighborhood.
When officers found Juker outside, he initially complied with their demands to put his rifle on the trunk of a nearby car and assume a kneeling position, according to the report. But as the officers waited for backup to arrive, Juker “jumped to his feet and sprinted to where he had placed the rifle … grabbed the rifle, ran a few more steps, turned and fired towards officers … (and) multiple occupied homes.”
The oversight office’s report echoed an internal police department observation that the officers could have better communicated with and secured the suspect before he used deadly force, though it acknowledged the challenges of doing so given the limited number of officers present at that time and uncertainty about whether Juker had additional weapons.
Boise police “found that prior to the suspect fleeing to obtain the rifle, officers placed him in a kneeling position for approximately 90 seconds and that no one was communicating with him during this time,” the report said. “Officers missed an opportunity to continue a dialogue with Mr. Juker in an attempt to maintain compliance.”
As Juker fired his rifle, officers returned fire. He kept shooting even after he fell and was lying in the street, the report said. Juker was struck by more than eight rounds before he stopped firing, according to the report, and he died of his injuries at the scene.
Officers’ use of lethal force ‘reasonable’
The oversight office releases reports on any incident in which a Boise Police Department officer shoots someone. These reports accompany separate investigations, including a Critical Incident Task Force inquiry led by a separate local law enforcement agency and one led by the Boise department’s Office of Internal Affairs. The oversight report typically includes and comments on some of the findings of these other reports.
The Garden City Police Department led the CITF inquiry into Juker’s case, which the Gem County Prosecutor’s Office reviewed. In February, that office told the Garden City department that the six officers involved “were justified in their actions,” the Idaho Statesman previously reported.
The Boise department’s internal inquiry found that the officers’ use of lethal force was “reasonable” given the circumstances.
“By pointing and firing a rifle multiple times at officers and toward occupied homes, Mr. Juker presented an imminent threat of death or serious injury to officers and members of the public,” according to that report. “When Mr. Juker began firing his rifle, it created an exigent circumstance requiring officers to move in and locate him.”
The department found that the officers’ actions were compliant and that one officer’s efforts to “initially stage away from the scene” and contact Juker by phone were “well thought out.”
In its report, Boise’s police oversight office concurred: “Mr. Juker’s actions demonstrate a deliberate effort to force an armed confrontation with officers.”
This story was originally published August 21, 2024 at 12:59 PM.
